


The Family that Styles Together

by 0bviousLeigh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Angst, Family Bonding, Gen, Twins Being Adorable, but of course i have to include the fact that their parents are dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 06:57:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7564567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world needs more stories about the Kamishiro twins styling each other's hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Family that Styles Together

“Ryoga, hand me the pink one!”

Ryoga pick up the pink clip and gives it to his sister. Rio frowns in concentration as she slides the clip into their mother’s hair, securing the French braid she just finished.

“Am I done yet?” Mom asks.

“No!” The twins shout.

Ryoga starts a French braid near his mother’s temple, slowly and carefully wrapping it around her head, until Rio takes over and clips it safely into place. They finish the style by putting a tiara on mom’s head—a real tiara, once she inherited from her great-grandmother.

“Done!” Rio says happily. She turns the swivel-chair towards mom’s dressing mirror, and Ryoga holds up a hand mirror so she can see the back.

Mom gasps and gently touches the tiny braids. “Oh my loves, this is beautiful!”

“You like it?” Rio asks.

“I love it,” mom gushes, holding her arms out for hugs. “You’ve both gotten so good at this! Do you think I can hire you to style my hair full-time?”

“Full time?” Ryoga asks, “Does that mean we don’t have to go to school anymore?!”

Mom laughs, “Well, it’s against the law for you to not be in school…how about I hire you during the summer holidays?”

Ryoga pouts for a second, but then smiles. “Well, okay. But I like this a lot more than school.”

There’s a knock on the door and all three of them turn around.

“Daddy!” Rio cries, “Look at what me and Ryoga did today!”

Their dad gasps. “You two made mom’s hair look like this?”

“They did indeed,” mom says, “I didn’t help at all.”

Dad applauds. “Bravo! You made mommy look like a princess!”

“No, she’s a queen,” Ryoga says. “And you’re the king, and Rio and I are the princess and prince!”

Rio looks thoughtful. “What kind of hairstyles do Kings have?”

Mom stands up. “Why don’t we go see if we can find a book about that in the library?”

Rio jumps up and down, clapping her hands, “Yes, yes! We can all dress up and be a royal family!”

 

 

The funeral is over, the house is empty. Rio has shut herself in her room, but Ryoga wanders the house. He ends up in his parent’s room…or it used to be. He starts to go through their things, picking out what should be saved, what should be given away. He’s distracted by the dressing table across the room, he keeps looking up, thinking he sees his mother sitting in the chair, putting on lipstick or arranging her hair. Ryoga goes to the table slowly, a wave of vertigo washing over him, a knot in his stomach that makes him feel like he should leave, like he’s about to destroy something sacred.

But Ryoga doesn’t leave. He sits in his mothers’ chair, picks up her brush and a few of her nicer clips, and is about to bring them to Rio when a small box catches his eye. Ryoga puts everything on top of the box and carries it to Rio’s room. He goes in without knocking. Rio is curled up on her bed, completely still.

Ryoga clears his throat. “I found mom’s tiara.”

Rio sits up, her eyes locking on the box. Ryoga goes closer and sets it down next to her. When Rio doesn’t open it, Ryoga does it for her.

Rio sniffles. “It won’t fit me.”

Ryoga shrugs. “It will someday. Mom would want you to have it. You’re still her little princess.”

Rio wipes her eyes. “Will you help me put it on?”

Ryoga does more than that. He styles Rio’s hair into an elegant twist, held in place by glittering clips.  He spends over an hour getting it right, and only when he’s satisfied does he help Rio arrange the tiara on her head.

“See, it fits,” Ryoga says, walking Rio to her mirror. “And you look like a princess.”

Rio smiles. “Yeah, I guess I do.” She hugs her brother. “Thanks, Ryoga.”

Ryoga’s not quite sure why, but they’re something about styling Rio’s hair that’s almost healing, for both of them.

 

 

Even when she’s in a coma, Ryoga can hear Rio whining at him.

‘ _My hair feels gross, Ryoga. And it looks boring! After all this time you’ve spent styling my hair before my duels, before photoshoots, before we step out the door, are you seriously going to let me lie here like this?_ ’

Ryoga goes to the nurses’ station. “I want to arrange for someone to come and take care of my sister’s hair. She would…she would never forgive me if she woke up with split ends.”

The nurses smile, a smile that says they know, they’ve heard this before. “Make sure it’s during visiting hours.”

Rio’s been comatose for three months, and her hair shows it, so Ryoga arranges for a stylist to come to the hospital and treat Rio like a Princess. The stylist washes, trims, and treats Rio’s hair, and when she’s done, Ryoga styles it. He spends hours making tiny French braids along the side of Rio’s head, making sure they’re not too tight. Then he gathers her hair together, over her shoulder, and makes one braid, weaving in the flowers that the stylist had brought for her. He finishes with the tiara, placing it gently on top of her head. He’s not going to leave it on her for long, but he hopes…he hoped…

Rio lies in her bed, as still as she’s been for months. Of course, it’s not like the tiara is magic. Who knows if Rio can even tell that she’s wearing it?

“Don’t ever say I don’t take care of you,” Ryoga tells Rio, keeping his voice light. He takes a picture of her, to show her when she wakes up. If it weren’t for the cloth over her eyes and the IV in her arm, she could be Sleeping Beauty.

 

 

Ryoga isn’t surprised when Rio makes him fix her hair in school. In a way, he wishes she wouldn’t, because he’s already fighting girls off with a stick, he doesn’t need to give them another reason to fawn over him (he’s not even that likeable!), but he can’t turn down his sister.

“How did you get so many knots?” Ryoga asks as the brush snags yet again. “All you did was walk to school!”

Rio huffs, “I bet your hair is full of knots too, it’s windy!”

Ryoga runs his fingers through his own hair. “Nope, nothing,” he lies as he rips through a knot. But it’s a small one, nothing like the tangles Rio has.

“You’re good,” He tells her, “Now go nail your audition.”

Rio kisses his cheek. “You’re the best!” She rushes out of the cafeteria, script clutched in her hand. Ryoga thinks this is an awful lot of fuss to make for a school play, but Rio will actually kill him if he says that out loud.

 

 

Ryoga jerks away when he feels hands on his hair. “Oh,” he says, upon realizing it’s only his sister, “It’s you.”

“Yes, it’s me,” Rio says crossly. “Now hold still.”

They’re at the beach, celebrating the saving of the world. Yuma dragged Ryoga into the ocean, and Ryoga can feel the salt working his hair into tangles, but he wasn’t worried about it.

“I’ll fix it later,” Ryoga says.

Rio swats him with a hairbrush. “You always fix my hair, let me help you with yours for a change.”

Ryoga rolls his eyes, but lets her do what she wants. Actually, it’s kind of nice. It reminds him of when they were kids.

**Author's Note:**

> I...honestly can not think of a title that I like. If anyone has any suggestions please tell me.


End file.
